Additional Details On Pat McAfee's WWE SmackDown Promo & Writer Involvement

While many fans are aware that the divisive call to have Pat McAfee revealed as Randy Orton's mystery ally against Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on "WWE SmackDown" was reportedly a TKO CEO Ari Emanuel decision rather than WWE creative's, a new report indicates the content of the promo also wasn't a call by the creative team, which includes Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the belief backstage is that McAfee was given permission, by someone, to come up with some of the scathing lines in the promo himself. There was a writer for the segment, however, but the promo McAfee ended up cutting in the middle of the ring was not what the writer told Levesque McAfee was going to say.

Meltzer wrote that multiple people said that McAfee's comment about WrestleMania 42's low ticket sales, as well as the line about the March 27 edition of the blue brand being "SmackDown's" lowest rated show ever, were not written for him by WWE's team. The "lowest rated" line is believed by some to be about the show's Cagematch rating, which is currently rated a 2.39 out of 10 by fans. The Nielsen rating for the show was not the lowest rating ever. Meltzer noted that in his career, he had never had anyone bring up Cagematch ratings for an overall show.

Creative was also aware that the call for McAfee to be involved came from above Levesque. Key people, according to Meltzer, were aware that McAfee was in the mix. Meltzer previously reported that McAfee had been offered the opportunity, but turned it down. The details behind the deal that eventually got McAfee in the door have yet to be revealed. Just who okayed McAfee apparently coming up with his own lines for the promo has also not been reported.